Police Brutality
by foxfire222
Summary: Barry witnesses something that should never happen in a Police Station. Even Captain Cold doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. Part 1 in the Frienemies Series.


Barry was having a very good day. His load of evidence was light, he was going to get to go home on time today after all. And just that morning he had stopped Leonard Snart from robbing a jewelry store. He smiled a little wider as he passed the interrogation room, thinking of Snart sweating it out inside. Then he paused. Had he just heard something?

The hall was silent, no other people around. And that made the next muffled grunt all the clearer to Barry's ears. It seemed to be coming from the interrogation room. Barry opened the observation room and looked through the one way glass. His eyes widened in shock.

Snart was not cuffed to his usual place at the table. Instead he was curled up on the ground, his cuffed hands trying to protect his head. There were two police officers beating the hell out of the guy. What the Hell?! Barry rushed to the other door and opened it, "HEY!" The officers froze when he shouted. Snart didn't even look up, still curled up for protection on the ground. Barry could see a few spatters of blood on the floor and felt his anger grow, "What the Hell are you doing?!"

"Stay out of this Allen!" snapped officer Mahone

This got Snart's attention. The man's head turned in Barry's direction and Barry flinched. Snart's nose was obviously broken. His left eye was already swelling. But his intelligent eyes were like those of a cornered animal. Like he was just waiting for Barry to join in with the beating.

Barry ignored the officers and stuck his head out the door, "HEY, I NEED..." Barry's shout ended in a muffled scream of surprise when officer Tunny's hand covered his mouth and pulled him inside. Mahone shut the door as Barry was tossed down on the ground next to Snart. Barry glared up at them, "You think this is gonna stop me? I won't just let you beat someone in police custody."

"What's wrong Allen? He's a piece of shit!" Mahone said as he gave Snart a vicious kick

"Stop it!" Barry shouted as he tried to get to Snart. Tunny grabbed his shoulders and held him back. Barry struggled, trying not to let his speed through. Snart may know his identity, but no one else here did aside from Joe.

"Why do you even care?" Tunny asked in to Barry's ear, his voice truly dark and giving Barry shivers, "Maybe you feel sorry for this garbage."

"No." Barry insisted as he tried to get to Snart who was now making the most pathetic whimpering sounds, "But he's caught. He's not going anywhere. And we'll never get a conviction if you do this."

"Who says we want a conviction." Mahone said darkly as he gave a powerful kick to Snart's leg

There was a loud crack and Snart let out a pained scream. Barry had seen enough. He may not be able to use his speed powers, but he wasn't defenseless. He brought his elbow hard back into Tunny's face. The man was so surprised by the sudden pain that he let Barry go. Barry wasted no time going after Mahone, no matter how much he wanted to. Instead he rushed to the door and opened it. He ran several steps down the hall and screamed at the top of his lungs, "I NEED BACK UP OVER HERE! ANYONE, PLEASE HELP ME!"

He could hear Mahone and Tunny make a break for it behind him, but he paid them no mind. They would be arrested as soon as this whole thing was discovered. Probably wouldn't even make it home. He gave a relived smile when Joe rounded the corner, a whole squad on his tail. Barry didn't wait for them to reach him, just motioned for them to follow as he rushed back in to the interrogation room.

Snart hadn't moved other then to reach his hands down to hold his right leg. Barry slid down next to him and gently took hold of the man's face. Snart's eyes were unfocused and Barry noticed a sticky bit of blood on the back of the man's head. Those unfocused eyes tried to center on him and Snart's voice was pained as he asked, "Allen?"

"I got you Snart." Barry said as Joe burst through the door

"Barry, what...oh my God." Joe stuck his head out and cried, "I need a bus, now!"

Barry managed to get Snart on his back and stretched the man out. It was obvious that Snart's leg was broken, probably a few of his ribs to. Snart groaned as Barry's hands scattered over his body as he looked for more serious injuries, "You could...at least...buy dinner first." Snart managed to quip around his gasps of pain

"Barry." Joe's tone was serious and Barry didn't need to hear the question

"Tunny and Mahone." he answered simply. Joe left his side and went to round up a posse to get the rogue cops. Barry knew it would take another few minutes for the EMTs to arrive so he sat down a bit more comfortably next to Snart. The man's eyes were starting to droop so he shook him a little, "Hey, you can't fall asleep."

"Worried Scarlet?" Snart asked with a pained chuckle, "I'm touched."

"Yeah, in the head." Barry said with a smirk. That got another chuckle from Snart but that chuckle developed into a short burst of coughing

There was a pause and then Snart asked, "Why did you stop them? I know you think I deserve this."

"No one deserves this, even you Cold." Barry replied, "This was...this wasn't justice."

Snart let out an amused hum and another pained cough, "Good to know you aren't this violent kid. I have to admit, I never much had the stomach for beatings like this."

The EMTs rushed the room and Barry was forced to step back. Watching them stabilize Snart cause Barry more emotional pain then he imagined it would. It was like he wanted to make sure Snart was safe. He was supposed to be safe. This was a damn police station! People weren't supposed to be hurt in here!

For the next few hours the station was in chaos. Tunny and Mahone had easily been caught and questioned. Turned out they had personal beef of some kind with Cold. Something about a job several years ago where they had each been shot by the man. Barry had had to go over the evidence, though it wasn't really needed. This included a full medical report from the hospital about an hour after the ambulance left. A broken leg, fractured wrist, 5 broken ribs, bruised kidney, mild concussion, and a broken nose. The list made him vibrate with rage. Police were supposed to be different then criminals.

He didn't even resist the urge to sneak into the hospital later that night to check on the criminal. Barry was surprised to find the man awake before he remembered the head injury. He was met with a crooked smile, obviously they had the man on the good drugs, "Barry, hey." he gave a little wave with the hand that wasn't cuffed to the bed. Barry didn't really see the point when the man's leg was broken, but protocol was protocol,

"Hey Len." Barry said with a playful smirk

"I guess this makes us even huh?" Snart asked as he shifted and winced

"Not even close." Barry's smirk only widened

"Figured." Snart let out a sigh then he giggled, actually giggled, "It's been a long time since I've been in this sort of shape."

Barry found himself attracted to the chair next to the bed and sat down as he asked, "When was that?"

"The day before my father was arrested for attempted murder." Snart said with a roll of his eyes, "Did you even read my file?"

"Um..." it was currently sitting on Barry's desk and had been for the past few months, "...it's on my To-Do List."

"All that power and you probably waist it on stupid things. I've heard the boys at the station and in the dinner mention how late you always are." Snart let out another giggle, "Fastest man alive can't be on time. Fantastic." he dissolved into quiet snickering

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up Snart." Barry took the ribbing with no ill will. Obviously the man was high as a kite and if Barry was a lesser man he would be using his phone to record this right now.

After the snickering stopped Snart let out a tired sigh, "God, I'm so tired."

"How much longer do they want you awake for?"

"Another hour...maybe." Snart gave his head a slow shake, "I can't really remember with all this fog in my brain."

Barry tried not to smile to hard as he stood and gave the man's shoulder a soft pat, "Well, I'll let you get some rest. Just don't cause any more trouble."

"Oh, it's to late for that." said a female voice from the door

Barry spun around and came face to face with Lisa Snart. Barry could see the out cold officers laying on the tile floor of the hospital hallway. Barry took a step back, plastering himself to the wall, as Lisa stalked across the room in his direction. She was waving a pistol threateningly, no doubt about to slam it in to his face. Barry was surprised when Snart said, "Chill out sis, he's not a threat."

Lisa paused and raised an eyebrow at her brother, "Going soft Lenny?"

Snart chuckled again, "No, but I owe the kid one. He stopped me from being beaten to death after all."

Lisa's eyes were instantly fixed on Barry, some sort of surprised emotion he couldn't identify swimming in her eyes, "Is that right?"

Barry gripped the wall a little tighter and nodded, "Yeah."

"Why would you do that?" Lisa asked with a suspicious look

"Because it was wrong." Barry answered honestly

Lisa let out a bark of laughter, "You are just adorable." she reached out, ignoring his flinch as she did so, and pinched his cheek slightly, "Now you stay right here or I'll have to bruise that baby face of yours." Barry nodded

Lisa un-cuffed her brother, probably having taken the keys from the officers outside. Once that was done she put the cuff on Barry and attached him to the hospital bed. The situation got even worse when Mick Rory entered with a wheel chair, "We need to split. The cops are already on the way."

"Two minutes." Snart said fuzzily as Lisa helped get him off the bed. He made several grunts of pain as his leg was shifted about

Barry said, "He needs to stay awake for another hour. After that you need to wake him up every two hours for the next day." Lisa raised an eyebrow at him while Mick just looked at him as if wondering why he was still conscious, "He has a concussion."

"Whose the kid?" Mick asked with a growl

"He's my brothers savior." Lisa said teasingly

Mick snorted, "You fallen that far Cold?"

"No. But it is very difficult to defend yourself when the first punch is to the head." Snart defended himself. Barry felt a flare of anger rise in his chest but quickly pushed it back down

"I'm going to kill those bastards." Lisa growled

"No." Barry snapped. He took a step back when Lisa and Mick turned angry glares at him, "I mean, you don't have to. The police already took care of it. Those officers are going away for a long time."

"We don't have time for this." Snart said groggily, "We need to leave." he shot a look at Barry as Lisa pushed him from the room, "See you around kid."

-BREAK-

It was a week later when Barry arrived at work to see everyone gathered around something in the squad room. He entered and asked the nearest officer,"What's going on?"

The officer gave him a raised eyebrow, "We were hoping you could tell us." the officer stepped aside and allowed a confused Barry through

Sitting on a desk in the middle of the room was a large gift basket. It held all sorts of cheeses, meats, and exotic looking sodas. There was even a large blue bow tied around the top. A card was taped to the front and in big blue letters it read, "To Barry Allen. Thanks for keeping me out of the ground. Stay cool. Captain Cold."

Barry groaned as all eyes fixed on him. Some were amused while others were obviously offended by the thing, "Seriously?!"


End file.
